English 201------Writing Fiction------James Plath

Class: Meets T-TH  10:50-12:05, English House Seminar Room (basement)

Instructor's Office: English House 303

Hours: T-TH 9-10, W 9-11 and by appointment

Phone: 556-3352

E-Mail/Website: jplath@iwu.edu; http://www.iwu.edu/~jplath/

Texts: An Introduction to Fiction, Tenth Edition, ed. by X.J. Kennedy & Dana Gioia, literary links and instructor handouts.

Suggested Reading for Independent Study

Course Objectives: This is not a hobby course, schedule filler, or easy grade. This is the basic nuts-and-bolts course on writing fiction for students serious about their writing. Students will be expected to approach the writing of fiction in workmanlike fashion, with the goal of learning characteristics and techniques, as well as formal and stylistic options. Yet, there must be freedom to experiment and fail. Writers must be readers, and each week students will be expected to read and discuss the week's reading and other elected reading. Perhaps the toughest expectation: despite taking the craft of writing seriously, students must learn to relax and enjoy the act of literary creation.

Course Requirements:

• Attendance is mandatory. More than 2 unexcused absences affects grade.
• The class will partially operate on a workshop basis, meaning that students will be responsible for reading and critiquing works-in-progress by their peers.
• All writing assignments MUST be completed for students to receive a grade for the course. Assignments are due at the beginning of class. When a student is scheduled for workshop, barring disaster, a serious draft must be presented, with copies provided for all. Hard copies must be handed out the previous class period; electronic copies must be sent two days prior to workshopping. Written assignments will be penalized one grade for every class period they are late. For grading purposes, only hard copy will be accepted  unless the student has special permission.
  
• All stories must be typed, double-spaced, with standard margins and in standard format (to be shown in class) in 12pt. Times.
• Two individual conferences required, more suggested.
• Students are encouraged to form a literary community that extends beyond the classroom, and to attend any/all of the readings and literary events in the Bloomington-Normal area.
• Since class will sometimes be held in more "writerly" locations than a seminar room, often with one class period's notice, students who miss class are responsible for phoning the instructor or classmates to find out where the class is meeting next time.
  

Grades will be determined on the following basis:

• 75 percent--Final Portfolio of at least 24pp and no more than 50pp
• 25 percent--Exercises and class participation

Tentative Schedule:

NOTE: Due dates for all short story drafts and final versions will be announced IN CLASS, based on the pace at which the class seems comfortable working.

Tues., Aug 28--Taking inventory; where ideas come from; setting standards. In-class handouts.

Thurs., Aug 30--Read (and be prepared to discuss) "Story of an Hour" (Kate Chopin) and "Girl" (Jamaica Kincaid). Follow-up on inventory exercises.

Tues., Sept 4--Stories vs. narratives. Read "Everyday Use" (Alice Walker) and be prepared to discuss.

Thurs., Sept 6--Openings: Read ALL openings (the first two pages) from stories in the text and be prepared to discuss your top five and worst five picks.

Tues., Sept 11--Combining "facts" and fiction. Read "Cathedral" (Raymond Carver)--For the curious and insatiable, access two Carver interviews published in Clockwatch Review and CarverWeb.

Thurs., Sept 13--Character: Read "The Yellow Wallpaper" (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)

Tues., Sept 18--Character: Read "The Chrysanthemums" (John Steinbeck)

Thurs., Sept 20--Point of view: Read "Sonny's Blues" (James Baldwin)

Tues., Sept 25--Point of view: Read "I Stand Here Ironing" (Tillie Olsen)

Thurs., Sept 27--Dialogue: Read "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" (Ernest Hemingway). For the curious and insatiable, access Ernest Hemingway & F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Tues., Oct 2--Coffee-house class (groups meet on own; individual conferences)

Thurs., Oct 4--Coffee-house class (groups meet on own; individual conferences)

Tues., Oct 9--Plotting (linear design) Read "A&P" (John Updike) and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" ( Flannery O'Connor).

Thurs., Oct 11--Workshop

Tues., Oct 16--Plotting (modular design): Read "The Things They Carried" (Tim O'Brien)

Tues., Oct 23--Settings and description: Read "Shiloh" (Bobbie Ann Mason)

Thurs., Oct 25--Workshop

Tues., Oct 30--Setting and description: Read "The Handsomest Drowned Man" (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Thurs., Nov 1--Workshop

Tues., Nov 6--Mood and atmosphere: Read "The Five Forty-Eight" (John Cheever)

Thurs., Nov 8--Workshop

Tues., Nov 13--Mood and atmosphere: Read "A Rose for Emily" (William Faulkner)

Thurs., Nov 15--Workshop

Tues., Nov 20--No class: individual conferences

Thurs., Nov 22-- THANKSGIVING RECESS

Tues., Nov 27--Rewriting strategies

Thurs., Nov 29--No class: individual conferences

Tues., Dec 4--Putting together a portfolio/manuscript

Thurs., Dec 6--Getting published

Final Exam PUBLIC READING/PERFORMANCE (tba)